Online PR News – 06-April-2013 – April 5, March, El Paso, Texas – Tecma Transportation Services (TTS), a member of the Tecma Group of Companies, has taken steps to meet and exceed the safety standards required to move shipments of the manufacturing clients that it serves in their cross border trade activities between the United States and Mexico. Efforts to do so have been driven by the supply chain safety, integrity and security concerns that are currently of paramount importance to the international trade community.

In addition to being certified by the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency under its Customs – Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT, program TTS has also recently received supply chain security certification from the Business Coalition for Free Trade. This private organization is also known by its Spanish acronym, CELC.

In order to receive C-TPAT recognition, companies must demonstrate that systems and facilities have been put into place that ensure procedural and physical security, as well as controlled access to facilities and conveyances that are utilized in the international transit of goods. C-TPAT also requires that companies involved in international trade exercise personnel security by screening employees that handle and move shipments.

CELC certification incorporates the requirements established by C-TPAT, but also contains elements that are similar to those found in ISO 14001 (environmental) and OSHA 18001 (safety) in its audits.

“Going the extra mile to ensure the full integrity and safety of our clients' supply chain is what sets TTS apart from many of its competitors,” stated John Rippee, the company's Vice President of Border Solutions. “This recent recognition by CELC will, by no means, mark the end of our efforts to progressively enhance the security of the cross border trade that Tecma Transportation Systems conducts on a daily basis”

The Tecma Group of Companies has offered services that have enabled more than two hundred firms to reap the benefits of nearshore manufacturing in Mexico. Under its Mexico Shelter Manufacturing Partnership (MSMP) companies mitigate risks and reduce their costs, while exercising complete control over their core, value-added and critical strategic functions.